January 11, 2008 - Daily Brief
The execution of the American coot must be prosecuted with extreme prejudice, for my lawn and herb garden are threatened.
News
- Bridgeport Homeowners want to kill birds: No one from the Bridgeport Homeowner’s Association w
ould actually speak on record with the Signal, but reporter Katie Geyer found out that the association had obtained a “depredation permit” from the US Fish & Wildlife Service that would allow the group to trap and kill the American coot, a “duck like bird native to the area” that hangs out in Bridgeport’s man-made lake. Some residents of Bridgeport complain that the small black bird poops all over the place and eats grass in their yards. One said they are like rats. Environmentalists are outraged, noting that homeowners chose to live next to a lake that would attract such birds. They plan to stage a protest today in front of Bridgeport. One option for killing the birds would be to feed them “cracked corn,” a tranquilizer that would knock the birds out and allow them to be killed elsewhere. Link - Door-to-door solicitors arrested: For some reason Santa Clarita seems to attract aggressive door-to-door solicitors. They usually sell magazines and sometimes claim to work on behalf of local organizations. Sheriff’s Deputies yesterday arrested one such pair of solicitors who didn’t have a proper license to go door to door. The two men are from Illinois and the fuzz says they were “aggressively” going door-to-door after 8pm. More details at SCVSheriff.com
- More on Newhall Ranch from VC Star: Ventura’s biggest newspaper notes the approval for Landmark Village and briefly summarizes the decade-long battle between Los Angeles and Ventura Counties over development of the largest housing project in California, Newhall Ranch.
- Real Estate Reports: SCV Realtor Darla Vanderlip has some real estate statistics posted on her website. As of yesterday, there are currently 1998 homes for sale in Santa Clarita, and from a cursory comparison of various communities, it looks like homes in Canyon Country are the most difficult to sell with only 26 closed deals out of 583 listings. Meanwhile, another realtor has posted some neat pictures of snow on our local mountains after last week’s storms.
- Tilting Crown Princess the fault of senior crew members: Remember that scary report in the summer of 2006 about a Princess Cruise ship that suddenly tilted to one side, forcing frightened passengers and crew to grasp at fixtures so they wouldn’t fall? The incident off Florida on the Santa Clarita-based company’s newest cruise ship emptied the Crown Princess’ swimming pool and injured some 300 people. The National Transportation Safety Board has determined that the fault lies squarely on the ship’s senior crew, including the second officer who apparently disengaged the ship’s autopilot and steered the 113,000 ton vessel the wrong way. Enhanced training is recommended by the board. AP has a report.
Opinion
- Plambeck on Newhall Ranch and Regional Planning Commission: Lynne Plambeck, who made her name fighting the 21,000 home Newhall Ranch project, has a long op/ed in today’s Signal about the Regional Planning Commission’s approval of Landmark Village, the first phase of Newhall Ranch. She says that while the commission allowed her and a “dedicated band of patriots” to speak about issues not addressed in EIR, they essentially ignored it all and approved the project anyway. She says the EIR didn’t detail the fact that owls, hawks, falcons and even a golden eagle nest in the Landmark Village project area. She asks the fundamental question: What happened to democracy in LA County? “We cannot vote our supervisor out of office, even if we are discouraged with planning decisions or other services or even public process in our community because [Supervisor Antonovich’s] district is too large for our little vote to make a difference,” she says. Not online.
They may seem like they are everywhere, but American Coot numbers aren’t that high. The past two SCV Christmas Bird Counts tallied a total of 628 and 764 American Coots, respectively, scattered between Bridgeport, golf courses ponds, and Castaic. Killing 50 of them would be wiping out 7% of the SCV population! They’re generally an abundant, familiar species (global population of 3 million), but do we really want to kill them?
After all, despite being loud, abundant, and prone to poop, I think the American Coot makes for a sympathetic character.
According to Gullion (1952), a pioneering American Coot researcher, the birds are entirely monogamous. Can the same be said of all married Claritans?? They form strong pair bonds with their mate, courting females with behaviors like “bowing” and “nibbling.” Clearly, coots know how to keep the passion alive in a relationship—they are known to “fluff their feathers” after mating and may even mate underwater to spice things up. All of this romance occurs because coots, like many Santa Claritans, value family. They lay new clutches of eggs frequently, and they are closely attentive to their young after they’ve hatched, aggressively protecting them. They even spoil their kids, feeding them the best food morsels while they eat the less savory stuff. So sure, they’re prolific, but it’s because they are good parents and devoted partners; do we really want to punish them for that?
In all seriousness, though, if humans hadn’t built the lake for their theme park of a community, the coots wouldn’t be there. If they didn’t fertilize and irrigate lawns all year-round, the coots would leave because there’d be nothing to eat. Are homeowners really foolish enough to think they can manipulate some aspects of nature without any consequences (i.e., coots)? Accept the consequences of your actions, I say.
Yes indeed, homeowners certainly do need to accept the consequences of where they move! If these Yuppies of the Caribbean can’t tolerate the birds, Bridgeport “Lake” should be filled in if the only way they can mange the birds is to kill them off. There is a clause in the documents that homeowners sign when they buy houses over there that states that Newhall Land can fill in the waterway if Newhall Land does not want to maintain the water feature anymore. So that is what must be done, that waterway must be filled in if it is going to become a waterfoul killing field. As long as that “lake” remains, waterfoul will be an ongoing problem, which means killing will be a regular water “feature” of Bridgeport and children will grow up over there “learning” that when forms of life become displeasing to them, all they have to do is eliminate what they cannot/will not tolerate. Not exactly how to teach children how to be caring caretakers of this planet, and wasn’t it Bridgeport Elementary that had Newhall Land introducing the children to an environmental education program recently, talking to the children about “environmentally sustainable practices?” Hmmmm, how does the wanton killing of Bridgeport’s waterfoul fit in with ANY environmental program?
Remove the water feature from Bridgeport so regular waterfoul massacres do not become a regular water feature of Bridgeport. Pauline Harte.
You know, I see this same lack of tolerance occurring when people begin moving to Newhall Ranch. That is a HUGE waterfowl region, and how long will it be before Newhall Ranch homeowners demand that similar waterfowl problems over there be handled by eliminating the “pesky” birds. We cannot allow Bridgeport to set a precedent of killing waterfowl that is naturally drawn to water. Pauline Harte.
RE: Plambeck on Newhall Ranch and Regional Planning Commission
Gee Lynne,I guess democracy isn’t so much fun when you don’t get your way, is it.
Well, when we are sitting on the freeway trying to get out of this valley with all the Newhall Ranch traffic adding tons more traffic to our current unmitigateable problems, we will all be wishing Lynne “got her way.” Traffic, air quality, and water will be negatively impacted in a huge way from the Newhall Ranch Project and we will be feeling the crunch from this addition in ways that will be very unpleasant for this entire region. L.A. County IS too big,it needs to be broken up so the special needs of various regions are not ignored as they are now by L.A. County. We can’t even get a sphere of influence because of major opposition from Newhall Land, Lennar, and Magic Mountain. All we want is a say in what goes on in our own backyard, and we can’t even get that much.
Before there were roads and homes and sod - there was upland habitat and natural pools that formed in the area of the Bridgeport homes. Minor tributaries (small streams) but they were all filled in a destroyed under a plan by Newhall Land known as the Natural River Management Plan. Bridgeport is part of that massive project that has impacted 15 miles of the Santa Clara River watershed.
During the environmental review process Newhall Land was to try to mitigate all impacts to less than significant. However, in the end the documented stated that even with mitigation the projects including Bridgeport would have unavoidable significant impacts to air quality, traffic, the Santa Clara River and the species that depend upon it for survival.
That being said, the killing of coots, rabbits and other species from angry homeowners was not addressed in the secondary impacts. Obviously, the killing of the coots is UNAVOIDABLE.
Either fill in the ponds or people who purchase homes along the river and where they put in man made ponds must be told by the developers point blank - that they have to live with whatever wildlife can persist after their habitat is essentially destroyed.
Just like moving next to an airport or a busy road - you knew it was there, you chose to live there, now don’t ask me to foot the expense of building $1 million/mile sound barriers.
We need to make sure these issues are brought to the attention of City and County Planners along with the Federal and State agencies that sign off on these projects on something called an overriding considerations.
In other words, money verses quality of life, money verses clean air, money verses traffic trips and further time away from our families, money verses protecting our river and species.
In other words to heck with the environment as long as money continues to line the pockets of politicians.
Anyway - Live with the coots - or fill in the lakes
Live with the frogs - or wear ear plugs
Live with the rabbits - or move
OOOPS IN MY PRIOR NOTE
I MUST HAVE HAD A BRAIN PAUSE MOMENT AND GOT TO THINKING LIKE NEWHALL - AND WROTE THE KILLING OF COOTS IN UNAVOIDABLE - I MEANT TO SAY THE KILLING OF COOTS IS ABSOLUTELY AVOIDABLE.
One day you will all wish people like Lynne Plambeck got her way all the time. Unless you make money off of raping land. Then you’re more than likely anti-Lynne. Lucky for us, she cares nothing about you and just keeps on fighting the good fight.
She is a true crusader, an environmentalist to her very core and when she says something the developers don’t like - everyone should pay attention.
Just because you don’t like her delivery.. doesn’t mean she isn’t right on the money.